chapter two | all aboard

"Are you absolutely positive you have everything, Cece? You double checked?" Alice Longbottom asked her cousin for the umpteenth time. 

While Cecilia herself was distraught that her father had been called away from work and wasn't able to be the one who came with her as she embarked on the trip that would start her sixth year at Hogwarts, she was glad that she at least had Alice and Frank accompanying her. 

The couple, who had just come back from their lovely honeymoon in Greece, stood hand-in-hand, which is how they'd gone through the barrier. Now, they stood fussing over Cecilia as if they were her parents instead of her cousins, and Cecilia bit back a comment on how they're own kid would one day really be in for it. 

In all honesty, Cecilia was glad the pair were there, though. When he father had announced that he had a work emergency to tend to and wouldn't be able to send her off, she had gotten just a little bit stressed at the thought of having to get herself and all of her luggage to King's Cross Station, so when Alice and Frank offered to lend her a hand just a little bit of that stress was alleviated. Still, Cecilia couldn't help but wish her father was there to send her off. 

"I have everything," Cecilia confirmed. Her hand tightened it's grip on the handle of her owl's cage. Inside of the cage, the barn owl inside, Aurum, ruffled it's golden feathers and looked back up at Cecilia expectantly. The bird's intensely inquisitive gaze could only be matched by it's owner. 

"Okay, well, have a good school year, do all of your work, don't get into any trouble," Alice instructed her younger cousin in a cheery tone. 

Cecilia gave the brunette a half-smile. "Oh, I'll try." 

Alice rolled her eyes at Cecilia's sarcastic tone before pulling the girl into a tight hug and a quick peck on the cheek. As Cecilia feigned disgust (which Alice saw right through, by the way), Alice gave the girl's arm a quick pat as a finishing touch to show her unyielding love for her relative. 

"Alright," Frank announced. His tone was almost as cheery as Alice's was. "Luggage is altogether, you are ready to go, Cecilia." 

"Thanks again, Frank." Cecilia decided to show her gratitude by holding out a hand to shake, but Frank chuckled before pulling the girl into a quick hug that Cecilia didn't bother trying to protest. 

"Anything for family, right?" Frank asked once he pulled away. A satisfied smile painted itself across Alice's face in response to her husbands words. 

"You two are truly made for each other." Was Cecilia's honest answer. 

Frank and Alice were both rather pleased with her answer. 

"Well," Cecilia started as she slowly edged away from the couple. "The Vanity's are waiting for me, I'm sure. I should go find them." 

Dramatically waving at the young witch, Frank and Alice let her slip away and onto the Hogwarts express. There was still a good few minutes before the train left the station, but most of the train's compartment's already had inhabitants. If the Vanity Twin's weren't inside of the compartment she glanced into as she walked, Cecilia moved on without giving the occupant's a second thought. 

This had seemed to be a foolproof system, but there were two fools in particular that not even Cecilia Fortescue could breeze past. 

The door to the compartment Cecilia had just walked by slid open quickly, but Cecilia didn't bother looking back at it. As far as she was concerned, she had two friends and two friends only that she deemed worthy of spending her time with. 

"Oh, there she is," sang a familiar voice. "Our pal, our buddy, our favorite ray of sunshine." 

"Cecilia, oh, Cecilia," Another voice chimed in. Then in a regular speaking voice, the person continued. "Were you really going to just blow past us as if we meant nothing to you?" 

Against her better judgement, Cecilia paused. She knew exactly who would bug her in such a childish way, and sure enough when she turned around she was greeted by Sirius Black and James Potter, both of whom had their heads popping out of their compartment's entrance. 

Despite Cecilia's utterly unamused expression as she looked at them, both boys beamed happily at her. 

"Sit with us!" Sirius exclaimed, seemingly not asking so much as demanding. 

"No," Cecilia responded. James began to open his mouth to protest, but Cecilia cut him off. "I'd rather eat a frog. And no, not a chocolate one." 

James, who's head was hovering overtop of Sirius', looked down at his best friend and frowned. 

"I can't believe she is treating us like we mean absolutely nothing to her," James said to Sirius, he was currently attempting to make his tone feign heartbreak, but Cecilia didn't buy into his act for a moment. 

"And after we shared a magical night, no less," Sirius agreed, his voice too laced with over exaggerated sorrow. 

"You boys do know I could hex both of you in a blink of an eye, right?" Cecilia raised an eyebrow as if to challenge the two Gryffindor Goons. However, the Gryffindor Goons responded in the complete opposite way that Cecilia had hoped for, which is to say their impossibly wide grins somehow managed to get wider. 

Cecilia sighed, trying to think of a different way to make the boys not feel so comfortable with her, but before she got the chance their short attention spans were captured by something shiny and new, Cecilia assumed. 

Whatever was now on the receiving end of of James and Sirius' grins seemed to be behind Cecilia, and she couldn't help but turn to look at whatever it was. And as it turns out, the it they were looking at was actually a he. The he Cecilia quickly recognized to be one Remus Lupin, who she also just so happened to know made up a fourth of James and Sirius' gang. 

What had they called themselves? The Marauders? Whatever it had been, Cecilia remembered being amused when she'd found out that the quartet of teenage boys had given their friend group a nickname. 

"Remus," Cecilia greeted, her lips forming a tight smile.

 Like she had told the other two at Alice and Frank's wedding, Remus was her favorite out of the group. He always seemed less... unbearable, which may not have sounded like much of a compliment but coming from Cecilia Fortescue, it could and should be taken as the highest form of praise. 

Remus Lupin, who always happened to sport a look that made him look to be perpetually tired, stopped just before he got to Cecilia, mostly because there wasn't much room in the aisleway for him to easily get by her. Although they had been going to Hogwarts together for years, they both had been sorted into different houses and didn't ever try to branch out socially, so to say that this may have been one of their first interactions outside of a classroom would be a safe assumption. 

Remus' face was etched with tiny scars, some of which Cecilia of course noticed to look fresher then other but didn't even think about asking him why, and he had over grown brownish hair which he used at most times to cover his face, but he currently had the longest pieces tucked behind his ears. Cecilia appreciated this fact because it gave her the opportunity to see the kindness in his soft brown eyes and the sheepish smile tugging at his lips. He seemed surprised (but not unhappy, please note) that Cecilia had acknowledged him despite the fact that his closest friends were clearly bugging her. 

"Cecilia," He greeted in a voice that seemed rather quiet, but maybe that was just because Cecilia had just had James and Sirius shouting at her. "They're not bothering you, are they?" 

"Moony," James and Sirius gasped at the same time. James added, "Us? Bother someone? we would never dare. Sunshine, tell our good friend loony Lupin here that you just absolutely adore our company, will you?" 

"Just a bit clingy because I happened to talk to them once over the summer. I'm sure they could be much worse," Cecilia said to Remus, not even sparing James and his ridiculousness a glance. 

"They often are," Remus agreed. 

What occured next was completely and totally uncharacteristic for both the young witch and the young wizard. The laughed with someone who wasn't in their immediate friend group. Well, the laugh was more of an exchange of breathy giggles that lasted for a short moment, but it was also  long enough for James and Sirius to exchange an almost evil look while their dear and darling friend, and also Remus Lupin, shared a brief moment of mutual amusement. 

When the moment passed, Cecilia moved a little bit closer to one side of the aisle, giving Remus enough room to slide past her. Somewhat clumsily, he thanked the girl and managed to move past her with cheeks slowly becoming rosy as he ignored his friends smirks. Just as quickly and cautiously as he had arrived, Remus was leaving to make his way into the compartment the others had claimed. 

Once Remus had passed, Cecilia decided she wanted to go back to looking for her friends. Before she left, she narrowed her eyes threateningly at James and Sirius, daring the pair to try to stop her. Sirius put up his hands as if to surrender, and James pouted as he ducked back into the compartment. 

☾☽

The exchange that had happened when Cecilia had found the Vanity's compartment on the train happened just as most of their reunions would go. Cecilia would enter the room, smiling softly and raising her eyebrows expectantly, and Elijah would rush to her and give her an over-zealous hug. Once she gave in to Elijah's antics and let out a laugh, her fellow Ravenclaw would let her go, tuck her hair behind her ears, and say something overdramatic like how Emma had cried every night they had been apart. Then, Cecilia would plop down next to Emma, the calmer of the two twins, and one of the two girls would put their head on the others shoulder, say something rather sarcastic, and then compliment the other in some way. Then, the trio would carry on as if there hadn't been a moment they'd been apart. 

However, there was one thing that Cecilia did that was entirely new to their routine. This something happened to be telling them a secret, which Cecilia hardly ever had as she really didn't do much socially, Elijah would claim. However, with a summer being between when the trio had last been reunited, Cecilia had been given ample time to be a part of something the Twin's weren't away of. 

This secret happened to go by the name of Declan McLaggen, and yes, both of the Vanity's were quite shock at the news that their Cecilia Fortescue had gone and gotten a boyfriend while they were away. 

"I'm sorry, Declan McLaggen and you?" Emma clarified for the fifth time. "But he's so, you know. And you! You're so, you know." 

"Ah, Slytherins and their way with words," Elijah sighed sarcastically. Emma shot him a glare that would've made anyone else flinch, but Elijah knew his sister too well to even think about being intimidated. 

"Don't sound so horrified," Cecilia murmured. She sat next to Emma and closest to the window. As she looked out at the scenenery flashing by as the train chugged on, she seemed more interested in them then the current topic at hand. Niether of the Vanity's were surprised by this revelation, however. 

"I'm not horrified," Emma explained. "I'm just shocked. He's pracitcally my enemy, you know?" 

If you are to know anything about the Vanity twins it should be this; Emma Vanity cared more about quidditch more then really anything else in her life, and Elijah had an acute fear of even being on a broomstick. Needless to say, Emma was the captain of the Slytherin quidditch team while Elijah slept through most of the quidditch matches that he could. 

"Well, you don't have to worry about me picking sides because niether of you are in the same house as me so I therefore am not obligated to cheer for either one of you," Cecilia assured Emma. Cecilia looked away from the window long enough to send Emma an overly sweet smile. 

Emma rolled her eyes and sunk back in her seat, but she wasn't upset. In fact, it was more likely that she was now trying to find out how to use this relationship against her competition. 

In constrast to his sister, Elijah leaned forward to carry on the conversation. 

"So," he prompted. "I've got to know. What is it about Declan McLaggen that caught your eye? I mean, don't get me wrong. I think the guy is great. Every girl in the school thinks he's great-" 

Emma coughed loudly and dramatically. 

"-Most girls in the school think he's great," Elijah corrected. "I just didn't get see this coming, honestly. I mean, how did he manage to catch your eye?" 

Cecilia shrugged and went back to gazing out the window. "Not sure." 

"Not sure," Elijah repeated, raising an eyebrow. He was miles away from being satisfied with that as an answer. 

If people were to be sorted into their houses for one particular reason, Elijah had been sorted into Ravenclaw for his uncanny ability to read anybody and everybody. Emma liked to claim that he was a walking and unfortunately talking mood ring, and nobody could hide what they were really feeling from him. Cecilia and Emma had both at times found it irritating, but that was mostly because Elijah made them confront the things they frequently didn't want to; their very own feelings. 

"Are you sure you even like him?" Elijah probed. He was scanning over Cecilia as if he could find out the truth just by looking at her. In all honesty, he might be able to. 

"I don't know," Cecilia admitted. "I don't not like him." 

"I get it," Elijah nodded. "And if you don't like him, or can't like him. That's okay. You can even not like romance or romantic feelings altogether, or have no interest in them. It's nothing to be ashamed of and despite what other people might say, it is totally normal." 

"I didn't realize you'd gone to muggle university over the summer and become a therapist," Cecilia jested. 

Elijah rolled his eyes at the blonde. "Well excuse me for being wise beyond my years." 

Cecilia cracked a grin that matched the amusement dancing in Elijah's eyes. "Oh, look at good old Elijah Montague Vanity," She announced, nudging Emma who had long since zoned out of the conversation. "He spends one whole school year as a prefect and suddenly he thinks he's got all the knowledge in the world." 

"Don't talk to me about my dumb brother being a prefect," Emma groaned. "Mum and dad wouldn't stop telling people about it all summer and about how he's a shoe-in for Head Boy next year." 

Cecilia pouted at her friend, her demeanor being mostly genuine. Gently, she poked the side of Emma's face, knowing fully well Emma would try to scowl at her in response. For a few moment, she did manage to shoot Cecilia a rather dark and terrifying look, but it was only a matter of time before a grin broke through, even if it was only a momentary one. 

"You know that was only because we were with dad's side of the family," Elijah reasoned. Gently, he kicked Emma's shin to get her to look at him. "You know if we were with mum's side of the family it would've been all about you being the Captain of the Quidditch team!" 

"Not this year," Emma said in a serious voice. 

For a moment, Elijah and Cecilia both shot Emma a concerned glance as they thought she had somehow lost the spot for captain of the quidditch team. Then, as they exchanged a worried glance, reality dawned on them. 

What Emma had meant was that her mum and dad, who were from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw respectively, wouldn't have been eager to pride themselves on having a Slytherin daughter at the moment. There was nothing wrong with Slytherin per say, and they did truly love their daughter, but the world was becoming a darker place, and at the center of that were dozens of Slytherins, some of which the trio personally knew. 

It was news that the world was becoming more dangerous. Everyone knew the rumors, and Cecilia couldn't help but hope that they were just that, rumors. It might've seemed foolish, but the young girl wanted to believe that going to Hogwarts and being under the protection of the great and powerful Albus Dumbledore would keep the darkness of their world at bay. 

The trio had fallen silent for too long to try to rekindle the prior conversation. They all knew what the others were now thinking about, and it seemed pointless to try to pretend otherwise. That being said, Emma got up to grab some candy from the trolley and Elijah pulled out a book he had tucked away for the ride. 

Cecilia went back to looking out the window. She recognized their current surrounding as being close to Hogwarts, which meant they were now even closer to starting their new school year. In spite of the anxiety that was produced from the previous topic she and her friends had dropped, Cecilia couldn't help but be excited for the upcoming school year. The classes she was going to be taking were all intriguing, she was determined to set time aside for her hobby in dabbling with potions, and she was certain that this year would be unforgettable, to say the least. 

She just really, really hoped that unforgettable would be a good thing.

[an] im not saying I made james and sirius' nickname for Cecilia be moonshine for the sole purpose of me being able to make #moonshine as the ship name for Cecilia and Remus (aka moony)... however that is also exactly what I am saying. hope you guys think it's as funny of a nickname as I do whoops 

also i'm super excited to have introduced the Vanity Twins. They are fun to write and also allow me to talk about some different parts of life at Hogwarts. anyways, I hope you enjoyed! please, let me know what you think so far!